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The Art of Blog Conversation

The Art of Blog Conversation

With all the talk about Adsense, Digg homepage stories, SEO, you could be forgiven for forgetting that Blogging is a social medium.

In fact I would go one step further and call it a conversational medium. What do I mean by that?

For a start most people would agree that the writing style of blogs is conversational. What you are reading right now is hardly the sort of formal writing you would find in an academic paper or The Times, right?

Bloggers write directly to their audience, we talk in writing as if there was someone on the other end. All being well there will be someone receiving; regular readers, search engine visitors, other bloggers, members of your niche and maybe even the media.

It isn’t just a conversational style either, there are real conversations taking place on blogs and between blogs. You might invite comments that spark a discussion, or you might prompt another bloggers to write a reply or rebuttal on their own blogs.

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Next time you write a blog post remember a conversation is always better with responses. Write fully expecting a reply. Ask open-ended questions and incite discussion. You might be surprised by the results :)

How do you make conversations happen with your blog? Please share in the comments …

View Comments (7)
  • I end each entry with an open-ended question, inviting readers to comment. I try to embed personal experiences in big-topic discussions in the hopes that my readers will relate to my experiences on a larger level. The hard part is getting casual readers, who do not often participate in blogging as a conversational medium, to understand the importance of leaving a comment, no matter what they have to say. Even if it’s just one sentence or a few words, comments help my writing to be more worthwhile because I want it to be a two-way conversation.

  • I don’t do this all the time, but whenever possible, I ask a question at the end of my post. But I have realized that it takes at least 2 to 3 comments for more to follow through.

    I have observed that readers are more inclined to chip in if there are already other readers doing so :)

  • I have a few blogs, on some of the more ‘webmaster’ blogs, just adding Dofollow and Top Commentator plugins to comments seemed to bring the conversations :P

    At first the posts were a bit short, as people were merely there to get the link.. but if you want to keep your spot in the top commentator.. you’ll have to comment again, soon people become involved in the topic, and they’re actually returning because they want to see what others had to say :O.

    In other sites, geared towards things like racism, gambling.. and so on.. controversy seems to open a lot of conversation. I did a post on smoking at casinos recently, it was just a ‘filler post’ I found it interesting, my partner found it interesting, we had someone write it up, it was the second such post, but this particular state had opinions!

    We have a full blown debate in that thread :O

    Next.. ?

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